When a mother had her wallet full of cash stolen at a Stockton grocery store, she was crushed that she would no longer be able to afford her baby son's heart medication, but the community has stepped up and opened their wallets to help the family in their time of need.

Breanne Martinez was out on a quick run to Winco with her 2-month-old son Mason and set her wallet down next to a check-out stand in Winco so she could put her baby in his car seat. But when she turned around, her wallet was gone.

Advertisement

"I cried in the middle of Winco because I'm just thinking of all the things I'm not going to be able to provide for my son this month,” Martinez said.

Inside Martinez's wallet was her ID, insurance cards and $510 in cash, which Martinez had just taken off her EBT state assistance card.

"I didn't know what to do," Martinez said. "I just cried. I cried the whole way home. I cried bringing my son up the stairs."

Martinez said her heart sunk knowing she could not buy the medication needed for Mason's recently diagnosed heart condition.

“(His heart) doesn't pump enough blood to the rest of his body,” Martinez said. “I feel it's my fault because I have a heart condition as well, and I passed it along to him."

Martinez filed a report with the Stockton Police Department for the stolen, silver Kenneth Cole wallet.

“Someone just went on a shopping spree with my son's money," Martinez said. "They felt they needed it more than we did."

Martinez said there were security cameras inside the store but Stockton police have received no surveillance footage.

“That money is the way we do things every month," Martinez said. "That money is what keeps us going, what keeps my son's heart beating and they so selfishly took it without blinking an eye,” Martinez said.

Thanks to an outpouring of support after Martinez's story aired on KCRA, the community came together to donate the $400 Martinez was asking for to buy her son's prescription, which is the discounted of the medication price after insurance.

However, Martinez said she still hopes someone will turn up and do the right thing.

“Winco is open 24 hours. Turn it in, no questions asked,” Martinez said.